The
MotoGP series saw a surprise winner on Sunday as Makoto Tamada won the first Grand Prix of his career at the Rio circuit in Brazil.
Makoto Tamada came out on top of a race-long battle with teammate Max Biaggi, earning the first MotoGP win of his career and giving Bridgestone their long-awaited first MotoGP victory in the process.
"A perfect race, with the bike settings and the tires as good as they could possibly be," said race-winner Makoto Tamada. "The team did a magnificent job and I did the rest. I'd like to dedicate my victory to all of them and to my dear friend Daijiro. I think that's the greatest homage I could pay to him. I miss him. I'm grateful to Bridgestone for the incredible work they did to make sure I could be fast and effective in all the tests this week, right through to the race itself when the tires on my Honda gave me all the performance and endurance I needed."
The Camel Honda pilot battled the entire race with
Max Biaggi before taking the checkers in front of his Italian counterpart. "What a tough race," exclaimed Max Biaggi. "But wonderful, even though I didn't make it to victory. And here I'd like to congratulate Makoto: he's not just a fine rider – he's a true friend. Great. I could hear him coming during the last laps, opening the throttle as he came out of the corners while I still had to wait, and I realized I was in danger. But I'm still really pleased with my bike, with my Michelins, and especially with all the work my team has done together with Honda. I started off well, with only Kenny in front, but I managed to get past him after a lap. I set my pace, trying to save the tires, but it was too hot to try and break away from the pack, even though we were racing three hours earlier than usual. I tried not to make any mistakes, as conditions were pretty treacherous. These twenty points are really worth a lot for the championship, but now I want to get back onto the top of the podium."
The battle for the series lead ended in a pile of dust as Sete Gibernau and
Valentino Rossi crashed out of the Rio grand prix. Gibernau's day ended on the fourth lap, while Rossi left the track at the midway point of the race when he was running in fourth.
"We made some modifications before and after warm-up this morning," explained championship co-leader Valentino Rossi. "Even though I was riding better the set-up was still not quite right. What a shame. I lost the front and that was it. I haven't fallen in a race since Mugello 2001. We've been having problems all through the weekend, but we were having a strong race and I felt I was catching the leaders. Even though I was up with the front group it was very difficult on the left hand corners. If I had managed to finish in fourth place it would have earned us some good points."
Repsol Honda's
Nicky Hayden ran with the leaders the entire contest and took a hard fought podium on the day, finishing 3.7 second back of the top two. "I'm happy," said Hayden. "I've never got to finish a race from a front row MotoGP start. I definitely wanted a good solid finish today. It's been a good weekend all the way through – to finish with a strong result is pleasing. The race was a lot of fun. Early I was right there with Max. I saw we were pulling away and I thought we were going to be OK. Then all of a sudden I saw 'Tamada + zero' on my board - he just came from nowhere. Towards the end of the race I had a few big moments and I thought I needed to chill out a bit to get a result. It's nice to finish on the podium but I'm not here for podiums or front rows – I want to win races. I definitely want to go the next level. I'll take this result and build on it. Tamada did a great job as did my team."
Loris Capirossi just missed a podium and had to settle for fourth, which was the best finish for a Ducati pilot this year. Alex Barros was fifth, Colin Edwards was sixth and Kenny Roberts, Jr., the pole sitter, had a tough race in Rio and ended the day in seventh position.
"I got away ahead of everyone other than Max," said Roberts jr., "and then I passed him right away. I was trying to pull a gap so I could hold them off down the straight and I managed to do that. I knew that they would come by me there eventually, but I was in a good position and I pushed as best I could to the end of the race. It's been a very positive weekend for us – we were only 23 seconds behind the winner, which is the best we've done for some time. I must congratulate Bridgestone on their first win. It's a fantastic performance after their recent problems and takes one thing out of the equation for us, at least at this track. Our two biggest problems at the moment are acceleration, which will come when we get more horsepower; and traction control. I noticed the others guys were using it and when the tires go off, we desperately need it if we're going to keep getting closer to the front."
John Hopkins was 15th after being pushed off the track by Kawasaki's Alex Hofmann in the closing stages. The youngster hit a tire wall then re-mounted to finish in the points. Team Proton's Kurtis Roberts ended the day in 19th.
MotoGP Results:
1. Makoto Tamada (Honda)
2. Max Biaggi (Honda)
3. Nicky Hayden (Honda)
4. Loris Capirossi (Ducati)
5. Alex Barros (Honda)
6. Colin Edwards (Honda)
7. Kenny Roberts Jr. (Suzuki)
8. Norick Abe (Yamaha)
9. Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki)
10. Carlos Checa (Yamaha)
MotoGP Championship Standings:
1. Valentino Rossi, 126
2. Sete Gibernau, 126
3. Max Biaggi, 113
4. Colin Edwards, 64
5. Carlos Checa, 62
6. Alex Barros, 59
7. Marco Melandri, 57
8. Loris Capirossi, 55
9. Nicky Hayden, 54
10. Makoto Tamada, 44
